Shack-dwellers’ organisation Abahlali baseMjondolo (AbM) has witnessed 25 of its members killed since the movement began in 2005, prompting Amnesty International to accuse South African authorities of failing to protect human rights defenders in a new report.

The human rights organisation during a media briefing at Constitution Hill on Wednesday 7 August said its new report details the state’s failure to adequately respond to various forms of harassment, intimidation and violence, including almost complete impunity for perpetrators.

AbM is a movement of more than 150 000 people living in informal settlements in South Africa. For almost two decades, they have advocated for the right to adequate housing, an end to forced evictions, and access to education, water, electricity, sanitation, healthcare and refuse removal. They have also argued for land to be released for public housing, and organised land occupations, marches, mutual aid projects, and other activities.

AbM reports that 25 members have been killed over the past 18 years since the movement’s formation in 2005, with the first killings reported in 2009. There have only been two convictions. In one case, two suspects were released after evidence disappeared. According to AbM, some of these killings occurred during protests, police raids or evictions, while others were targeted, with killers often warning their victims that they were being targeted.

While AbM members across South Africa have been targeted, the new report, compiled over the last two years, focuses on the eKhenana informal settlement in KwaZulu-Natal because the most recent killings occurred there and because the commune’s struggles represent the risks and challenges experienced by the wider movement.

Eight AbM members from eKhenana have been killed, including three in a span of six months in 2022. Amnesty International South Africa said its investigation found that all three—Nokuthula Mabaso, Ayanda Ngila and Lindokuhle Mnguni—were either key witnesses in cases of killings of fellow AbM members or the subject of “baseless, trumped-up charges such as murder or assault”. AbM members told Amnesty International South Africa that at least five of the eight killed in eKhenana were killed due to their activism.

Sibusiso Zikode, President of the movement, told ProtectionWeb that many of the killers work for politicians who feel AbM is disrupting corrupt activities or feel threatened by AbM as it operates beyond political, and particularly ANC, oversight. Hitmen are also hired by construction mafias and tenderpreneurs as well as business mafias, he said. Some police are even working against AbM and reporting to these entities.

Zikode said the new Amnesty International report will put pressure on the state to take action, and provide international scrutiny. He is hopeful new leadership in the Government of National Unity will also take the threats to AbM more seriously, and also address related killings of chiefs, traditional leaders, and councillors.

Police complacency

In its report, Amnesty International found that death threats directed at members of the eKhenana commune and AbM’s leadership are commonplace, but all AbM interviewees told Amnesty International of a pattern of police refusing to open and conduct thorough and effective investigations, collect evidence, or make arrests following threats and attacks. The three members killed in 2022 all received threats ahead of their killing, but police did not take any measures to provide effective protection to them, according to AbM members interviewed.

While some South African Police Service (SAPS) officers have supported AbM, the movement’s members reported a general lack of trust in law enforcement, which has also led to a decline in reporting cases to police. In one case, an AbM member receiving death threats was told to come back to the police station with those making the threats.

In addition to the report, ‘Our lives count for nothing: Threats, attacks and killings of members of Abahlali baseMjondolo (shack dwellers) movement in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province’, Amnesty International South Africa on Wednesday also launched its Justice for Abahlali campaign, #HandsOffAbahlali.

The campaign calls for lawmakers to introduce new legislation to recognise and implement protection mechanisms for human rights defenders (HRDs). The campaign further calls on the SAPS to impartially, swiftly and effectively investigate threats, and attacks against human rights defenders, including the killing of AbM members with a view to bringing all those responsible to justice in fair trials.

“It is time for the South African government to publicly acknowledge—at the highest levels of local and national authorities—the threats, attacks and intimidation faced by AbM members as they carry out their important human rights work. The authorities must also ensure impartial, timely and effective investigations into all threats and attacks, hold the perpetrators accountable in fair trials and provide the necessary protection of AbM members,” said Shenilla Mohamed, Amnesty International South Africa Executive Director.  ”No individual should ever be threatened or harmed in any way, let alone killed, for standing up for human rights.”

The Amnesty International report recommends the Presidency, the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, the Ministry of Police, and the South African Human Rights Commission must it react swiftly and effectively to threats, harassment, and killings of human rights defenders; and proactively create a safe and enabling environment for them to carry out their work without fear of reprisals. “This includes publicly recognising…the legitimate work of AbM and all HRDs and the need for their protection; adopting legislation that recognises, and protects HRDs; and impartially, timeously and effectively investigating cases of threats, harassment, and killings of AbM members to ensure those responsible are brought to justice,” the report stated.

At the time of publication of the Amnesty International report, authorities – including the SA Police Service and National Prosecuting Authority – had not responded to its findings or calls for action.

The full Amnesty International report can be found here.